Chinese Heat Wave

Thousands of people pack swimming pools and beaches in China to escape heatwave.

Look at these crowds! This is what Chariton will look like when RAGBRAI goes through town...

Tornado in Aurora, Nebraska

A tornado touched down near the city of Aurora in southeast Nebraska on Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
Aurora Mayor Marlin Seeman said the twister severely damaged a rural county five miles west of his town.

Tornadoes seem to be hitting towns named Aurora this year as I just posted one over Aurora, CO. I'd look out if I lived near Aurora, IL.

On another note, I hope Bettys made it through the night. At about 1 AM, a tornado vortex was in NW Lucus County headed straight for Chariton. I decided to wait for it to approach Derby before I called...about then, it started to dissipate...Shwoo!

Strange clouds over Iowa

and never seen before...causing a 'whirlwind' of discussion amongst weather enthusiasts.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Looking out the 11th floor window of her law office, Jane Wiggins did a double take and grabbed her camera. The dark, undulating clouds hovering outside were unlike anything she'd seen before.
"It looked like Armageddon," said Wiggins, a paralegal and amateur photographer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "The shadows of the clouds, the lights and the darks, and the greenish-yellow backdrop. They seemed to change."
They dissipated within 15 minutes, but the photo Wiggins captured in June 2006 intrigued — and stumped — a group of dedicated weather watchers who now are pushing weather authorities to create a new cloud category, something that hasn't been done since 1951.

Tornado chasers

Tornado - Aurora, CO
someone caught this creature on their phone
and sent it to CNN

Yellow Snowfall in Russia

Scholars of an environmental research center are studying the yellow snow that covered a city in the Russian Urals region in mid March.
“The chemical analysis shows high concentration of manganese, nickel and iron, and occasional concentration of chrome, zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium,” the report issued by the Center for Ecological Monitoring and Control, and quoted by Interfax Tuesday says.
Such pollution is typical of metal industries' waste, the report adds.
At the same time, the yellow snow was brought to the Urals by a warm atmosphere front from over the Caspian Sea, which allows to accept a more cheerful explanation. The yellow color could appear after particles of soil from the Caspian Lowlands, not covered in snow at the time, were raised by an air current and got mixed with the snow.
However, it is also very likely that on its way from the Caspian Sea to the Urals, the snow took in toxic waste from industries located in Chelyabinsk and Bashkortostan.

I think if you read the ingredients label on Russian Vodka, you will find the the same concentration of elements...thus Russian Urine...my theory.

There she blows

A snowmachine trail glows like a white ribbon through the ash-covered snow in Skwentna (Alaska) Monday. The area received as much as a quarter of an inch of ash March 23, 2009, from the eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Only a few days ago, the Iditarod teams went through here...the trail would be easier to follow today if it all looked like this but am afraid that the ash would have been very dangerous on the dogs' respiratory systems. Thank God she waited to blow. If this eruption is like the last (1989), it will be rumbling for months.

Time out on the Iditarod trail

Seems as though a bit of snow has stalled the action in Takotna, Alaska. A good time for Sebastian Schnuelle to pamper his dogs (think I am getting the picture on his hair care secrets). Patience is a virtue at this point as only a fool would brave the harsh elements of the interior during a storm. At this latitude, however, tonight's full moon is casting all kinds of moon shadows in the backyard. For the record, it is about 20 degrees colder tonight in Iowa than in Takotna...speaking of fools...

Springbreak in Chariton

Midnight temperatures heading into February, 2009. If this continues, I'm taking my Spring break in Chariton, IA...too cold in Florida...

Don't doubt Redoubt

Something's brewing in Alaska

and the last time Redoubt Volcano erupted, some 20 years ago, the above pictures were taken. Redoubt is only 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. Here is today's report:

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. Seismicity levels have remained relatively constant since yesterday afternoon at 3:30 PM AKST, and are still well above background. Clear web camera views currently show a steam plume rising to roughly 10,500 ft asl.

I was just on the webcam site and was very upset that it wasn't downloading...all I had was a black screen and I hoping to see the moment of eruption. Then I realized it was probably night there just like it is here...the eruption, however, is imminent...to watch in real time go here:

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webcam/webcam.php?cam=Redoubt%20-%20Hut

Alaska's volcanoes are not like Hawaii's. "Most of them don't put out the red river of lava," said the observatory's John Power.
Instead, they typically explode and shoot ash 30,000 to 50,000 feet high — more than nine miles — into the jet stream.

The picture below is the jet stream on Feb 1, 2009 and if I am deciphering this thing correctly...get your goggles and air masks ready...the ash snow is coming our way!!!

Eerie lights in the sky

These stunning images show mysterious columns of light streaming into the sky above the town of Sigulda in Latvia at the end of last month.

Experts say: The air above the town was notably cold and filled with suspended ice crystals.
It is believed that the columns were formed by those reflecting light from the bright streetlamps and other lights on the ground - beaming it back downwards again.
Skies all over Europe have been filled with such natural phenomena during the cold snap of recent weeks.

We have certainly had a cold snap and I haven't seen anything like this in my backyard...I think it is more inaugural pomp.

Just Another Day in Siberia

It's so cold, I had to open the refrigerator to heat up the kitchen....But that's not the half of it.........

Look what happened here:

Frostbite List

If your village is not on this list, quit complaining about the cold:

1. Roger’s Pass, Montana: -70 °F, January 20, 1954

2. Peter’s Sink, Utah: -69 °F, February 1, 1985

3. Riverside RS, Wyoming: -66 °F, February 9, 1933

4. Maybell, Colorado: -61 °F, February 1, 1985

5. Island Park Dam, Idaho: -60 °F, January 18, 1943

6. Tower, Minnesota: -60 °F, February 2, 1996

7. Parshall, North Dakota: -60 °F, February 15, 1936

8. McIntosh, South Dakota: -58 °F, February 17, 1936

9. Tetonia, Idaho: -57°F, February 9, 1933

10. Couderay, Wisconsin: -55 °F, February 4, 1996

Excluding Alaska, these are the 10 coldest recorded temperatures

from www.mentalfloss.com

The Blizzard People

I think the thermometer got stuck in their Blizzard machine.

Now that's COLD

I'll do about anything to avoid wrapping Christmas presents. Building this huge ice/snow castle in the backyard this morning, however, is NOT something I'd do to avoid the ritual. Yes, those are humans in the bottom right. The Great Wall builders are at it again:

The Harbin Ice Festival was officially proclaimed in 1985 following the Cultural Revolution in China, which runs through to the New Year holiday. It now attracts hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors world-wide who brave the sub-zero temperatures.
It’s held each year on the Sun Island in Harbin, northeast China, about 400 miles east of the Russian border. The frigid city’s arctic climate provides an abundant amount of ice and snow with average winter temperatures of minus 16.8 degrees.

Yesterday's Sun Dog

This is a recreation of yesterday's sun dog that I witnessed at about 4p.m. on the Iowa Tundra. It was actually very pretty as it looked like a rainbow on the blah, blizzardy, horizon. There were many reasons why I, myself, did not get a snapshot:

1. I was bucking snow drifts on the highway and was scared to slow down and get stuck.

2. Frostbite occurs quickly at -25.

3. Every time I looked straight at it, my corneas started burning and

4. It would have taken my entire memory card to get enough pictures that I could paste together to get the entire scene.

SNOW DAY!

For those of you who have forgotten how much fun a snowstorm can be:

We got a good foot of snow overnight...schools closed, businesses shut down, doubt if any airports are open yet.

Top: the little path I scooped so I could get the front door open...then I had to scoop a path to get the backdoor open...then I handed the gas can to the boys and gave Steve back his boots...their turn to snowblow.

Middle: Sam blowing out the driveway. Snowmobile trailer by tree-Steve's daughter came and got one and Sam drove one over to his mom's house. If they don't bring them back...I'm fine with that...I think I'll get in the Jeep and head south...until I can walk around without shoes.

Bottom: Steve blowing a bathroom area in backyard for the dogs. I knew it was time to get up and shovel them a path when one was licking my face and the other jumping on my head...

Get out the winter coats

Less then a WEEK ago, I posted a picture of my beautiful autumn trees.
Here's that same tree TODAY.
Yes, that's SNOW!
where's that full service gas station?

Hurricane Omar

I've been waiting all hurricane season for this www.weatherchannel.com headline:

Omar Weakens And Races Away

Zach asked his mother, Deb, why did they name the hurricane after Daddy?

Beachfront Property

Click image to enlarge.

Oblique aerial photography of Bolivar Peninsula, TX, on September 9, 2008 (top) and September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of Hurricane Ike (bottom).

Looks like there was a lot of water around to start with just now the beach extends inwards a few blocks.

The yellow arrow marks the feature that appears in both images.

Ebola Virus vs. Ike

This is a microscopic Ebola virus. If infected, it has a 90% fatality rate. Many books on the subject (the Hot Zone) and movies (Outbreak) came out about Ebola virus 10 years ago. The CDC studies viruses like these in Level 4 laboratories that I call bio-containment rooms. Anthrax is a lethal bacteria studied in Level 4 labs.

Now lets say that you have a Level 4 lab (I'm having trouble with colors) right in the path of a cat 3 hurricane--what do you do?

1. inform the general public (were you aware of this?)

2. destroy all viruses and run for your life? or

3. take some samples (because they are so rare) with you, evacuate, tell the general public they have been destroyed and then later sell them on the black market to radical militant groups.

This is what is finally being reported by CNN pertaining to the Level 4 lab in Galveston, Texas:

"The pathogens, which include the deadly Ebola virus, were purposely destroyed before the staff left the facility in advance of the hurricane, said Gov. Rick Perry's spokesman, Andrew Barlow.

However, a former student who worked at the Level-III laboratory while the Level-IV facility was being constructed and who knows the manager, said she would be surprised if all of the pathogens had been destroyed, since some of them are rare and extremely valuable."

I was hoping CNN would expand on this but they have kind of left us in the dark. Your guess is as good as mine...